1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the field of digital information communication. More specifically, the present invention relates to the field of computer implemented digital broadcast communication of information over the Internet.
2. Related Art
The Internet is a large network made up of a number of smaller networks. It is made up of more than 100,000 interconnected networks in over 100 countries, comprised of commercial, academic and government networks. It has become commercialized into a worldwide information highway and data base, containing information on virtually every subject known to humankind.
The proper and efficient use of the great amount of information available on various Internet sites has the potential of providing Internet users with a variety of information desired for businesses and individuals. In particular, those users interested in certain segments of the information available on the Internet or those users interested in certain specific Internet sites could benefit tremendously from having their specific information of interest available to them in an automated and interesting manner. Moreover, such users would benefit greatly from being constantly and automatically updated on new information as the new information becomes available on their sites of interest.
Due to the prevalence and popularity of the World Wide Web (also called the "Web") servers around the world, a great number of Internet users are particularly interested in receiving updated information of interest to them from various World Wide Web servers on the Internet. By way of background, the World Wide Web is an Internet facility that links documents locally and remotely. The Web document is called a Web page, and links in the page let users jump from page to page (hypertext) whether the pages are stored on the same server or on servers around the world. The pages are accessed and read via a Web browser such as Netscape Navigator or Microsoft Internet Explorer.
The Web has become the center of Internet activity because, among other reasons, Web pages, containing both text, graphics and multi-media content are easily accessible via a Web browser. The Web contains the largest collection of online information in the world, and the amount of information is increasing. Current schemes for accessing a Web document require typing in the URL (Uniform Resource Locator) address of the home page in the Web browser. From there, the user starts "surfing" through the Internet via hypertext links to other documents that can be stored on the same server or on a server anywhere in the world.
The shear size of the information available on the Internet and the Web has made it a necessity for individuals and businesses to efficiently and constantly sift through the available information in order to find and organize the information that is of interest. More importantly, it is crucial for content providers to efficiently and effectively transmit their information to those desiring to receive the information. Stated differently, individuals and businesses realize that the availability of information itself does not result in a competitive edge unless the information can be efficiently sent from the content provider to the receiver and further unless the information is of interest and of value to the business or the individual.
FIG. 1 illustrates a system 70 regarding one use of the Internet. In system 70, the Internet 40 is used to provide a communication channel between a broadcast source 60 (e.g., a Web server) and a number of receiving devices (e.g., Web browsers) or "users" 10, 12, 14. A digital broadcast signal, e.g., representing some audio/video/multi-media content or program such as a radio program or television program, can be broadcast in encoded digital packets from the source server 60 to the receivers 10, 12, 14. Although the digital broadcast content is the same for each receiver, a separate communication stream, comprising separate digital data packets, is required for each receiver that is coupled to the Internet. Therefore, three separate communication streams 20, 21 and 22 are shown as being broadcast directly from server 60 onto the Internet 40. Stream 20 is identified and communicated for receiver 10, stream 21 is identified and communicated for receiver 12 and stream 22 is identified and communicated for receiver 14. Further, the users 10, 12, 14 have to visit the Web site providing the audio/video/multi-media content in order to establish the communication streams 20, 21, 22.
As a result of the above, it is clear that the number of users (receivers) that can receive broadcast information on the Internet simultaneously from one server 60 is limited mainly by the connection speed of the connection between the server 60 and the Internet 40 because each stream 20, 21, 22 consumes available bandwidth. For example, assuming it is desired to broadcast a radio program over the Internet to users, e.g., that visit the web site of the server 60 (FIG. 1). Depending on the compression algorithm used, and on the number of users that want to listen to the program simultaneously, the server 60 needs to be connected to the Internet 40 with a speed of at least N.times.K bytes/s, where K is the bandwidth requirement for one user and N is the number of users able to listen to the program simultaneously. Assuming the server connection to the Internet 40 allows up to 1.5 Mbit/s bandwidth, the number of listeners will be limited to roughly 300 per server, assuming roughly 5 Kbits/s bandwidth requirement per user.
Although this figure appears large, in reality the bandwidth of the connection hardware between the server 60 and the Internet 40 actually imparts a substantial limitation to the number of receivers that can simultaneously receive content from the server. While more sophisticated connections with higher bandwidths can be used, this substantially increases the costs associated with providing the content from the server 60 to the receivers 10, 12 and 14.
Accordingly, what is needed is a cost effective method of providing content to many users pseudo-simultaneously over the Internet. What is further needed is a method and system that is able to provide broadcast communication content to many users, pseudo simultaneously, without being limited to the bandwidth constraints of the server to Internet connection. The present invention provides such a solution.